Vanadium
by Momosportif
Summary: KomuiReever reward fic for Sarahfreak, reader of the Momo DGM fics! May it be worthy of your greatness, SF! 13 chapters, each based off of one of my labs from Chemistry last year, each a oneshot with a situation reflecting the lab. Pure kore fun! Enjoy!
1. Physical and Chemical Properties

September Year One

Physical and Chemical Properties

He didn't really get nervous about things under normal circumstances.

The swallow he'd fought for the entirety of the boat ride was magnified to ten times its normal volume and he was positive, even though the man didn't flinch, that his ferryman had heard it.

He wasn't prone to fidgeting or getting anxious over even the most looming prospects.

Something about the brush of waves against the boat and unseen walls and the plunk of dripping water muffled by the shadows and the austere look of the neatly cut stone, arched water way made him unsure of how to stand, where to put his bag, what order to put his résumé papers in. Stuff he (usually) didn't have to think about.

When he'd stepped off the train, he'd thought the overcast autumn day was gloomy, not to say he didn't like it, just to say exactly that; it was gloomy. Yet now, he found himself clinging to the wet, decaying leaf fragrance of an English September, finding it far preferable to the vast uncertainties swimming before him.

In short, it took quite a lot of certain agitation to worry Reever Wenham and this was just the sort with just the concentration to do so. He didn't struggle with concepts, those could be logically explained; what he always found evasive about frustrating situations were dynamics, variables in greater numbers than one. He was familiar with the Black Order, for example, he'd spent six months in the Oceania Branch before being sent off to Head Quarters. But he hadn't the smallest bit of concrete fact to build an idea of living in the new facility from. This is what made him nervous, no control. But such rare feelings of uncertainty were briefly felt, for, as a scientist, Reever had an undying and willful curiosity which left all unfamiliar very well acquainted as soon as he could immerse himself in it. For the time being, however, he would have to suffer through the alien world he was docking on.

"Thanks," he acknowledged his transporter as he stepped from the boat onto the matching pier and made a short trot to and up the first set of steps. At the top, light debuted in the relatively empty, wide, circular hallways. Reever consulted a map of the building's layout, adjusted his single suitcase and set off up several more tedious flights of steps, passing finders on the way and a few science department members who all ignored him. He stopped momentarily in front of a pair of double doors and shouldered through them without pausing to let second guesses manifest in his appraising mind.

It was a mess.

He gazed dazedly at the mountains of books and papers heaped against pillars or bookshelves down to the valleys of thin spread single sheets, starting as his eyes swept back up to his own feet and he hastily tried to remove his shoes from the forms beneath them. There was no floor to step on. He looked up again to see swarms of white-coated workers milling about like geese, in never-colliding formations with individual destinations. Seeing that neither he nor the thousands of trampled papers were heeded, Reever proceeded to make his wary way to a distant, large and promising looking desk. Phones rang, scientific chatter fell and swelled, and clangs of equipment being professionally handled coursed steadily with the lines of people through the room. He found himself presently at the back of a short line of scientists laden with gargantuan stacks of papers, taking the wait time as an opportunity to further examine his new environment.

As he took in the perplexing mixture of lightning paced progress and what appeared to be utter chaos from the bulbous lamps mounted in the high ceiling all the way down to the aforementioned obscured tile floor, the line shortened at the instructions of an obnoxiously high-pitched voice, the owner of which he found himself in front of.

Reever stared at the man he knew to be Komui Lee, recognizable to any Order member in the science field for his exceptional brilliance, and was met by a look equally as blank for several seconds. One saw, on first impression, a young, bespectacled Chinese man with a serious but lively pale face and eyes that betrayed a severe lack of sleep despite the vivacious gleam they contained. The other saw, on first impression, an honest looking young adult whose expression indicated that he was calm but whose grip on his modest suitcase proved otherwise and an assembly of thin rubber bands clustered on two slim wrists pretelling of an intense work ethic. These observations were made in moments and abridged as the previously noted bright, dark eyes flared with comprehension.

"Oceania Branch transfer?" Reever blinked, began to nod, stopped the gesture, and replied,

"Yes…" trailing off, unsure of whether or not a 'sir' was necessary when addressing someone so near his age yet with such high status.

"This way, please," the formerly seated man rose with apparent eagerness to quit his desk and, after much examination, tugged an envelope from a disheveled mound, "Wenham! This way, Mister Wenham!"

He followed the Supervisor through a labyrinth of employees and various inert objects to a fairly large room that was, if possible, even messier than that which they parted. Komui casually tipped a chair to empty it of its amassed contents, studying the envelope's inner words as he did so. "Let's see…" his beret flopped slightly as he sat and Reever, after waiting in vain for an invitation, sat in the previously material swamped chair gingerly. "From Australia, hm? Do you have an accent?" The younger scientist, distressing over whether or not conversation had abated and his job interview had commenced, decided to just answer truthfully.

"I don't think so." Komui squinted in contemplation.

"Hmm… say it again?"

"I-I don't think so," Reever glanced around him awkwardly.

"No, I don't think so either," Komui returned his attention to the letter, scanning rapidly. "Impressive credentials for your age!" he remarked, flipping through what Reever now knew to be his application form from the Oceania Branch. "Can I see your résumé?" The papers were exchanged without dialog. "Ah! Specialties! Mathematics? What's 203 multiplied by 428?" Reever's well trained mind stumbled over the shock of such a direct question and hurriedly began implementing some mental math strategies.

"86 thousand…" Komui glanced up at him with a curious grin and laughed.

"I was just kidding! Sorry…" he looked back at the paper, leaving Reever to look on, now completely unprepared for anything that could come next. "Mathematics and linguistics! Wonderful!" Komui clapped his hands together excitedly. "Dui niu tan qin." Reever frowned a little frantically, instantly recognizing the language but not the phrase, and wondering what his expectations were regarding translation and analysis.

"Uh… that was Chinese… and you said ox…"

"Ha! Remarkable!" the supervisor looked up at him once more with a scattered air of amusement. He adjusted his glasses and focused with a finger point on the papers once more saying, "I didn't expect you to be able to translate that at all! Just a silly proverb… 'Play the lute to the ox'…" he smiled placidly at the résumé as he read on.

Reever was at a loss as to his current standing and borderline hysterical having never, either in university, work, or even the Order, experienced such a random interview. The mild manner of his interrogator made the situation all the more inscrutable yet he did not allow his panic to breech his exterior.

"Aah…" the satisfied sigh of the supervisor drew his prospective employee's eyes up to his gentle, pleased face. "Mathematics…" slender fingers extended in counting, "linguistics… and chemistry. Chemistry…" Komui leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "A hard subject, to be sure, but such an applicable one." Reever watched uncertainly as his elder lapsed into a content silence. "I wonder," Komui opened one eye behind his lenses, "if you know the difference between a physical and chemical reaction?"

The interview-ee held his breath unconsciously, absorbed in consideration for seemingly, at last, an earnest inquiry. The question seemed deceivingly direct.

"A chemical change involves change in state while physical changes involve materials that retain their state throughout."

"Ah…" Komui smiled with slight melancholy and closed his eye again, leaning his head against the chair back. "Very textbook. Nothing wrong with textbook…" Reever pressed his lips together with worry despite the casual assurance. Abruptly, a word Reever would learn to treat as a synonym to Komui, the supervisor returned to his aggravatingly chipper state, sitting upright and standing, saying, "Well, you're hired, of course. We really can't afford to turn many people down, the interview is something of a simple ceremony these days, not to say I didn't enjoy it-"

Though, in the upcoming months, Reever would listen to the head officer's complete prattlings, this first time his mind stopped comprehending at "you're hired" and he sat in shock and excitement.

"-so welcome, Komui Lee." The newly made Head Quarters scientist jumped to his feet at the extended hand and took it with well-contained eagerness.

"Reever Wenham." They shook twice. Reever let his tan hand rest in the pale, slender one that's fingers easily touched past his wrist.

"We'll get back to the chemistry question later," Komui added lightly, releasing the hand after a moment of that rare serenity that had appeared with the first asking of said query. Reever blinked, feeling that a verbal answer was both unnecessary and unavailable. "Oh!" Komui was transformed instantly, as it was already apparent he was prone to do, bringing clenched fists to his face in a sickeningly girlish manner. "You haven't met my sister yet! She's _wonderful_, the best sister on Earth, truly amazing-" the all but adolescent followed obediently, striving to suppress his interest in seeing his room or getting acquainted with the building in favor of pretending to be wholly interested in the supervisor's sibling.

For now, that was an affordable sacrifice, he had a job, a good job and one of the simultaneously safest and most dangerous homes in the Akuma-riddled world. With just this security applied to his transition from Oceania Branch to HQ, the complicated equation balanced out without a hitch, though, as with so many things, balance is only undoubtedly temporary.

* * *

For the Chinese proverb... I just looked up Chinese proverbs online... so it could easily be inaccurate... hee hee hee... it's 12:05... freeeeeench eeeesssssaaaaaay... nooooooo...

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	2. Discovering Density

I neglected to do this on chapter one, so now I shall go ahead and give credit to Sarahfreak for "Burnished Bronze Bangles", the typing demon for "A Coffee Story" and Contra Mundi for "Memoirs of One Slowly Being Driven Insane" as I feel I will most likely unintentionally or intentionally borrow ideas from them. If you like Vanadium, I strongly recommend those fics! Thahnk you. -bows-

Also: Quel dommage means too bad

* * *

October Year One

Discovering Density

Reever would later come to wholly appreciate how long he lasted without having to endure the two most heinous aspects of science department work life: all-nighters and Komui. Really either atrocity isolated was pathetic when compared to the two united but a newbie of one month's time could hardly be expected to handle either alone with poise or confidence.

Reever suffered both at the same time and not, to be sure, without some of the least impressive displays of his nineteen years of life.

The weeks had gone by rapidly in his cushy little junior mathematics station and he hadn't seen the supervisor for the entirety of the time up until the first surge day. Sparks of excitement such as an exorcist's report, two innocence deliveries, and a wire from General Yeegar that had temporarily intensified bustling and pace could not compare with the flare caused by a mass mission completion. On top of normal Akuma-related death reports and innocence analysis, nearly a fourth of the Order's exorcists coincidentally abated their missions within days of each other and came pouring in from early in the morning until mid-evening, all with reports to be assessed, some with innocence, and one with a new accommodator to be settled in. Reever found even his most minor office flooding with paper work and computation material, tasks compounded by the necessity to catch glimpses of the mostly alien exorcists, especially the new accommodator (temptations even he, as diligent as he was, could not resist). His fellow food chain bottoms had only implore his accompaniment once before they set off to idle about the entrance into the main office, covertly ogling the ethereal bearers of the Order's Cross. Reever found the stability of daily instability buoy out of proportion into an advanced form of the mania he's first encountered. The final arrivals truly put into perspective the massive gap between he and the exorcists.

"It's my turn, gensui!"

"It's not! I promise, it's not!" The double doors of the main office swung forward and back, admitting a squad of four lead by a recognizable weary face.

"A general," one of the young mathematics employees murmured in awe. Reever gazed without comment, placing the thick glasses and prematurely grey hair with the name Froi Tiedoll. The shrill voices announcing their entrance were again audible, this time with their owner's in view.

"I know it's my turn because I wrote it down in the back of the mission book when we got it," a barely teenaged boy with the best features of his Asian homeland though not exactly the characteristic reserve pulled the tiny black book from his instructor's lax grasp and flipped to the back. "There."

"Let me see!" his companion, a shorter boy of athletic build and a complexion darker than that of the Europeans, snatched the volume and frowned at the back page. "That was from two missions ago!"

"Was not. I wrote the date by it, dumb bell!"

"Hush! Daisya, Kanda," General Tiedoll smoothly regained the mission book, "Marie. Turn this in, please, we're going to wait in the hall."

"No!"

"Nooo!"

"Gensui, I'll be good-"

"I will, I will!-"

"Gensui, I want to see Komui!-"

"I want to see the labs!"

"Quel dommage!" Tiedoll ushered the smaller boys through an about face, genially greeting the finders or science workers by name or thanks as he and his brood passed through the department mull. Reever noted curiously how few people replied but rather appeared confused or frightened as if they'd been brusquely addressed. More than several never even made fleeting eye contact with the general but stared in awe at the two pining youths. They couldn't be more than five or six years younger than himself yet Reever felt what the other must be feeling, a sense that these people were in an unapproachable league above them, that they might turn you into stone if you looked at them too long or suddenly bust out their innocence and kill an akuma that was right behind you, having been so undetected for fatal minutes. Yet, simultaneously, it was clear they were just as human as possible, the children bickered, the elders chastised, they all had skin and eyes and smiles. They actually seemed more human than their non-compatible counterparts, Reever reflected, or perhaps just different.

Undoubtedly, merely looking at the colossal human the general had title Marie next to any of the white-coated researchers projected the stark differences between the exorcists and their supporters on internal as well as external levels. For all the scientist's knowledge and the finder's courage, there was simply more to those burdened by their innocence, 'more' in a figurative sense of course.

Reever had less than an hour to muse on such matters and spent, as expected, the better part of the evening calculating, modeling, formulating, and computing with an interlude of a welcome party for the newcomer during which he remained jostling among the back rows of the crowd until he reached the door and escape. The hour was then nigh at which the mathematics section leader customarily dismissed the lower ranking offices to bed, yet a call never came. Faithfully, they worked on, one employee explaining to the ignorant Reever to anticipate an all-nighter. He, not a stranger to such evenings, felt only minutely daunted around 11:30 and continued with thorough, accurate work. However, come around 2:15, a quarter of the dozen workers in his office had dozed off, he had redone the same equation fourteen and a half times with a consistent result of 1.25 equaling imaginary numbers, and the work load had _increased_ due to constant deliveries of data from other departments. Reever blinked and wondered blearily what the higher offices must be faced with if they, the lowest of the low, were struggling so, but he quickly pushed this thought from his mind as the possibilities promised to bring on a severe headache.

At last coming to terms with his inability to function properly, Reever regretfully opted to resort to his artificial awareness.

"I'll be back in a second…" he mumbled to his equally frustrated companions before proceeding to stumble out of the science department and down towards the kitchens. Under the corruption of a twenty hour day, he registered no shock at the fact that a light in the back of the kitchens was illuminated. Moth-like, he bumbled towards it and steadied himself on the order counter before refocusing and realizing Jerry was nowhere to be seen. "Hello?" voices he hadn't noted previously halted their conversation and a familiar but long unseen visage appeared in the window.

"Hello!" several Komui's spoke in unison until Reever violently rubbed his eyes, revealing a single kindly smiling and annoyingly chipper supervisor. The two puzzled at one another a while, one in a veritable coma from brain overuse, the other striving to recall, "You're the Aussie! Wenhamm! Reever Wenhamm!" a specific appellation. The bright exclamation pierced the young mathematician's mind quite painfully and fortunately this was observed; Komui continued in milder tones. "Come in, or around rather," the order station was vacated once more but the voice traced its owner's location. "Jerry…we have a visitor, yes, a new little one!" Reever dragged his senseless body around to the small door and was met by Komui who guided him to a stool and presented him to the chef properly. "Jerry, this is Reever Wenhamm, Reever, this is Jerry."

"Oh, it's the cute new boy in the math department, right?"

"Hi," Reever offered a small wave. Jerry planted an oven-mitted hand on his nodding head paternally- no, perhaps sisterly was a more apt term- and continued,

"Now what can I get you, hon? You look like you could use some…" pigtails flew as the cook spun around and browsed the icebox, "soda!" Reever stared in amazement at the beverage he had been seeking suspended tantalizingly before him.

"Yes, please," he replied with relief and lingering shock sufficient enough to render him motionless. Jerry chuckled at his bleary expression and took one of his wrists, bringing the attached hand up to receive the frosty bottle. After a full minute of simply gazing at the drink lovingly, Reever finally opened it and took a refreshing sip. Satisfied that his guest had been well served, Jerry bustled over to the oven and began shifting trays around while Reever became aware that Komui was regarding him from his withdrawn position behind the kitchen island.

As full consciousness followed caffeine into his system, the young mathematician realized the supervisor was probably not the best person to witness him skiving off work and decided to quickly take his leave.

"Um…Thank you, Mr. Jerry… sorry to bother you so early," Reever slid off his stool and slipped to the stove via the route farthest from Komui. Jerry looked up briefly with a broad smile and exclaimed, "Oh anytime, hon! More than happy to help you! And Jerry is just fine!" Reever smiled nervously and made a beeline to the door.

"Heading back?" Komui asked, moving around the island.

"Yes. Good night," Reever opened the door, slightly panicked at this attention.

"Oh! Wait up! I'm coming too," the supervisor gathered his discarded beret and called a cheery good-bye to the cook in what Reever recognized as an Indian dialect. "You're in calculus, right?- No, you're in discreet maths, aren't you?"

"Yes. The junior department." Reever focused on the distant kitchen doors, noting the supervisor looking down at him in his peripheral vision during their conversation.

"Oh, good! I haven't been there in months," Komui courteously held the doors open for his younger employee.

"Wait, you're coming to _our_ office?" Reever paused on the threshold of the hall and cast a startled look towards the excited official. Komui nodded happily and laughed as Reever continued to stare at him disbelievingly.

"Just to see everyone, there's no need to be alarmed." The walk continued though Komui's reassurances made Reever no less uneasy and his presence stressed him further still. "So how's it been so far, the work and such?" Komui inquired as they mounted the first staircase.

"Excellent."

"Are you sleeping well?"

"Yes."

"Making friends?"

"Yes."

"Gotten used to the ghost?"

Reever grimaced slightly but again answered "Yes."

Komui hesitated, on the verge of voicing another question but he closed his mouth instead and lapsed into silence. In this manner, they reached the science department floor and the hushed sounds of the sleep deprived as they shuffled to and fro in the minimally lighted sector. Reever made an effort this time to claim the role of door holder and followed the supervisor to his remote and lowly office, safely behind him and out of his scrutiny range.

"Hello, boys!" Komui intoned with characteristic glee yet tactful softness. A chorus of hails and scattered queries ensued and Komui smiled as he slipped into a space around the work table.

"How's the sis?" the office leader asked fondly.

"I sent her to bed at 10 as always," Komui responded with an indescribably tender expression, eying the table's contents as he spoke. "You all have really done well this evening!" he patted the stack of completed work. A shower of appreciative comments followed the praise and then laughter as Komui took a pen and a chunk of papers from the "to do" stack. He held a finger to his lips and whispered, "Shh…They get mad when I do actual work these days."

Everyone, Reever included, watched as Komui's pen danced down the papers one by one in a surreal exhibition of mathematic ability, applauding quietly as the final form was added to the stack. He winked conspiratorially and chuckled,

"As if you all can't do as well!" waving away their clapping. "I'll hang out here a while if there's no objection, you all really deserve to be let off soon."

Reever snuck into his designated place, pulling his papers near him as the conversation continued merrily. He worked through the trouble problem easily now, backed by the power of soda, and proceeded with his assignments vigorously. It came to him that Komui's companionable attitude made perfect sense as he recalled the man's age and wondered how he, the top of the top, could sustain the stress of this surge day. All the work each department did would pass to the science section leader and then to Komui in some form or another. This logic formed itself with the mechanical structure of the equations he confronted, and combined, these tasks of assertion and computation distracted his mind from detecting an unnatural shadow that appeared behind him. Thus, his surprise was not small when an arm extended over his shoulder and a voice near his ear pronounced,

"My goodness, Reever, I do believe I've misplaced you." He turned sideways to see, as expected, the supervisor leaning over him, one hand on the back of his chair and the other tracing the lines of the page in front of them. "Is this work easy for you?"

"Um, it's do-able…" Reever swallowed as Komui lifted the paper and slid his glasses down the bridge of his nose. His eyebrows rose curiously as he scanned the page and continued to do so as he grabbed another page to examine.

"Could you work this one out for me?" he pointed to the sheet Reever was currently occupied with. Reever scratched his face and inhaled in preparation before setting his pencil to the paper and commencing with the workout. "Ah, here," Komui reached a hand over again and pointed to the most recent step. Reever glanced up to see his colleagues staring openly at him. "The way you treat that variable…why?"

"Uh…if it represented a vector quantity the units would be easier to deal with on this side… yeah…" Reever flushed slightly under so many gazes.

"But there are no units."

"Well, no, but assuming the science department uses this equation, I imagine they'd apply units… it doesn't affect the problem outcome…" he focused on his lap uncertainly, wondering why his simple workout practices were attracting so much attention.

"Ah, dear…" Komui sighed and passed a hand over his eyes in exasperation. "How inconvenient! Reever, I'm truly sorry, but you don't belong here." Komui placed the pages on the complete stack and put his hands on his hips. Reever bit his lip and pressed his feet together under the table.

To have come so far…

"You belong in the _science_ section, not mathematics. I can't believe I misread this! It's so obvious now… and you'd just settled in, I'm _so_ sorry to displace you but I really insist you come over to science. We really need a natural." Reever blinked and looked up at him confusedly. "Silly me," Komui shook his head, "you were _clearly_ made for science. You were chemistry, right?" Reever nodded blankly, still processing that he hadn't been fired. "Even more inconvenient! Tapp will be furious you weren't here tonight…" the supervisor sighed again. "Is it too much to ask of you to come in tomorrow?"

"N-not at all."

"Good! I'm sorry, for the hundredth time!" Komui addressed the office now, saying, "Boys, go ahead and call it a night, I'll finish up this little bit." The workers gratefully rose and said their goodnights, some even bidding Reever good luck in his new office. As for himself, the realization that he was changing departments had only fully manifested by the time he and the supervisor where the only two in the office, he having lingered to vaguely reminisce over his temporary station.

Komui smirked up at him and jokingly chided, "Off to bed with you."

"Oh, uh, yes, sir. Thank you," he found himself bowing awkwardly, being so distracted by the early hour and office confusion, not to mention the meddling effects of caffeine. Komui chuckled, as he was wont to do, and Reever quietly and quickly made his exit.

He paused outside to watch Komui, sitting with a mild grin on his face as he peacefully filled out the math sheets. This image of the supervisor would remain with him for over a year, during which he would encounter him as the chemistry unit and never one on one, until a crisis would arise and leave a very different image in its place.


End file.
